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Friday, May 31, 2013

Troubles in Turkey

On May
30, 2013, at 11:31 AM, abbas karakaya
wrote: Diary of
Occupy Taksim, Day 4th,
May 30th Thursday 2013, Istanbul The
Occupy Taksim Movement of Istanbul- started this past Monday at Taksim Gezi
Parki- is fast becoming a symbol of [the] popular resistance to the neo-liberal
policies and austerity measures of pro-capitalist and conservative Sunni AKP
government. The
increase in the number of protesters since Monday clearly shows this growth:
from twenty environmental activists who managed to stop a bulldozer [illegally]
excavating the Gezi Park on Monday night to five or six thousand protesters
gathered at the Gezi Park two days later. The
government did not like the Occupy Taksim protesters who oppose their park
being sold off to build a shopping mall and a residence or hotel as the
so-called Taksim Pedestrianisation Project (TPP) assumes. So, it did not take
long for the government to carry out a harsher attack on the protesters on Thursday,
May 30th, the fourth day of the protest. The
Istanbul police force began their attack on protesters early this morning
towards five AM, during twilight hours when protesters were resting in their
tents. According a young protester’s account, two lines of policemen lined up
on the Western- and Easternmost parts of the park where they could attack the
protesters in two directions and force them evacuate the park. First,
the policemen threw stones at the protesters, whose only response was to sit
arm-in-arm in circles to protect themselves from the stones. This initial
attack was followed by heavy doses of tear gas which covered the park in
seconds and led the protesters to leave the park without their belongings
(e.g., tents, musical instruments). As this
happened, the excavators headed to the South end of the park to start their
illegal excavation, whose purpose is to create space for a road which does not
exist in the TPP approved by the Istanbul Municipality Construction Offices.
Once the park was evacuated, it was surrounded with fully armed policemen and
TOMAs (the Mass Incident Intervention Vehicle); the illegal excavation project
in the park started and lasted two hours until a PM Sirri Sureyya Onder reached
the park at 7.45 AM.

Onder
stopped the demolition of the park by stepping on the piles of excavated dirt
and standing between the bulldozers which eventually disappeared the scene. One
protester who received heavy kicks from the police was hospitalized. It was
reported that his testicles were incurred; he later had an operation at Sisle
Etfal Hospital near Taksim. One Greenpeace activist who lay in front of a
bulldozer was forcibly removed and arrested. Some
tents and grass were ignited and burned by the gas bombs. Strangely, police officials reported the
protesters themselves burnt their own tents, and unfortunately, mainstream
media used this misinformation. Please
follow my diary to get honest accounts of the Occupy Taksim. I will try to
update as much as I can. On May
30, 2013, at 10:15 AM, abbas karakaya
wrote: Diary of
Occupy Taksim, Day 4th,
May 30th Thursday 2013, Istanbul The
Occupy Taksim Movement of Istanbul which has started this week Monday at Taksim
Gezi Parki is fast becoming the symbol of the popular resistance to the
neo-liberal policies and austerity measures of pro-capitalist and conservative
Sunni AKP government. The increase in the number of the protesters since Monday
midnight clearly shows this growth: from twenty environmental activists who
managed to stop a bulldozer excavating the Gezi Parki without any legal permit
on Monday night to five to six thousand protesters gathered at the Gezi Parki
which is in the Taksim neighborhood last night (Wednesday night). The
government did not like the Occupy Taksim protesters who do not want their park
being sold off to build a shopping mall and a residence or hotel as the
so-called Taksim Pedestrianisation Project assumes. So, it did not take long
for the government to carry on a harsher attack on the protester on the fourth
day of the protest, May 30th Thursday.

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